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Mar
9

The Hard Numbers

Posted by Advice Guy in Uncategorized

$2.2 Trillion
Total American consumer debt in 2005–more than twice the consumer debt in 1994.
Source: creditcards.com

-0.5%
The average personal savings rate in the United States in 2005–the first time this rate has dipped below 0% since the Great Depression.
Source: creditcards.com

70%
The percentage of American workers who plan to work in retirement.
Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute

40%
The percentage of retirees who will end up having to leave the work force earlier than expected due to health problems, disability, or company downsizing.
Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute

$12,000
The average amount of credit card debt paid off with home equity loans amoung middle class households.
Source: creditcards.com

14 Responses to “The Hard Numbers”

  1. Added by jeff_wenz on March 13th, 2007 at 2:43 am

    I have a savings/investing question. My wife companys was recently bought out by a larger firm. She has a 401k from the “old” company that I would like to roll into a self-guided IRA. But other than my personal 401k plan, I do not have any affiliations/relationships with any brokers. Can you recommend one?

  2. Added by Financial Advice Guy on March 14th, 2007 at 1:12 am

    Your choice would depend on what you wanted to do with the retirement account. You mentioned “self-guided”. I assume you are talking about a self directed IRA in which you can use your funds to invest in things like real estate, tax liens, private companies like LLC’s and so on. In which case, there are not many choices. The main one I am familiar with is Equity Trust Company. They give you some freedom to do the things discussed above, but their fees are pretty high. I would only go that route if you plan to regularly invest in non-traditional assets (real estate, tax liens). If, on the other hand, you just want to roll it into an account that is not affiliated with your employer, you have a ton of possibilites. Ultimately your choice would still depend on what you plan to be investing in. I would look for a reputable company with the lowest fees. I have experience with Charles Schwab. If you are not going to be making regular trades, they would be fine. If you do plan to make more frequent trades, look for a company with low commission trades such as E-trade or Scottrade.
    Depending on what your plans are for future contributions to that IRA, I would also look at converting it to a Roth IRA. At your wife’s age, a Roth may be the best route. We can talk further about the differences later. I hope this helps.

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